Response: Review of property conditions in the private rented sector

By: Hannah Gousy
Published: April 2014

Shelter strongly welcomes the government’s review of property conditions in the private rented sector. This is an extremely important opportunity to address the disproportionate poor standards and introduce legislative changes to improve the lives of the increasing number of families living in this tenure

Summary

Conditions are significantly worse in the private rented sector than all other tenures, and this requires urgent action. Poor conditions are endemic to the sector. Attention should be focused on underpinning structural issues including: the lack of legislative protections for tenants to report poor conditions; the significant number of amateur and accidental landlords who are unaware of their responsibilities; and, in an overheated market, the limited financial incentives for landlords to invest in maintaining and improving property conditions. Shelter strongly recommends that the government restricts the use of Section 21 notices in order to better protect tenants from retaliatory eviction